Healing Tea

by Sheila Horgan

  “When you get out of the shower, I’ll get in.”

  I expected a black sedan to pick us up. I order them for Adeline and the girls all the time. If you hit it right, it is actually cheaper than a taxi.

  What pulled up in front of the apartment was a limo. I had equal parts of thrilled-ness and dread. I said a little prayer that Adeline didn’t go too far over the top. That’s not what this trip was about. Still it’s always fun to do something different, and how much time had I spent in a limo with A.J? None.

  A.J. didn’t seem too gobsmacked, so I decided to just go with it.

  “I still think it’s a little weird that she is having us driven to where we are going. What if we want to go out somewhere? We won’t have our car.”

  “I think that’s the point. I told her we wanted a few days of just you and me. If we don’t have a car, then nothing can get in the way of that.”

  “Makes sense. I guess. We can always take a taxi back here if we need to grab a car.”

  I think I was more excited about all this than A.J was. I know I’m the controlling one in our relationship, but I know Adeline pretty well, and I know she wouldn’t do anything she didn’t think I would appreciate. She’s really generous. She’s also pretty sensitive to what other people need or want. My guess was that we were on our way to a little bungalow with beautiful views where every sunrise and sunset would be a masterpiece.

  By the time I had that fantasy well developed in my wee little brain, and I’d listened to A.J. wonder aloud about what was taking so long, we pulled up to the curb. At the airport. A gate opened, and we pulled into the private area. I recognized it because I’ve picked the girls up there a couple of times.

  “What the hell?” A.J. sounded more annoyed than excited.

  “I’m guessing we are getting on Adeline’s plane.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I have no clue. If you really don’t want to go, I’ll call Adeline and tell her that we can’t.”

  “No, that would be a bad move all the way around. You don’t want to turn down your boss’s generosity. We don’t have another plan. She’s not likely to send us someplace terrible, but this has got to be so expensive. I’m uncomfortable with that.”

  “Her money, her decision. I’m not worried about that part of it. Much.”

  “Okay, then we’ll just make the best of it.”

  “Make the best of it? You sound like someone’s grandpa, not a person who has just been given the vacation of a lifetime.”

  “Sorry.” He did his best impression of a stereotypical surfer from a bad movie. “Dude, this will be totally gnarly. Bitchin’. I’m totally amped.”

  I laughed as the driver opened the door. The ground crew escorted us to the plane and stowed our luggage, which was all of a sudden looking just sad. I usually grab my brother’s roller bag, but I used my cheapy one, and it was obvious.

  I hoped this first leg of the trip was the only one that would make me feel like the poor cousin.

  It took all of about two seconds to wipe that out of my head.

  I am trying to get myself to a positive place again. Allowing those kinds of thoughts would not get me there. The old Cara would have just laughed at a circumstance like this, not gotten weirded out by something as unimportant as the price of her luggage.

  A.J. followed me up the steps and into the plane.

  It was gorgeous. Our stewardess introduced herself as Alice. After she said the name, I remembered Adeline talking about her once. She’s married to the pilot. Very well educated. Decided to take on the job of stewardess so she could travel with her husband. I don’t remember all the details, but it was a really romantic story.

  After all the excitement, is it weird that not long after takeoff I fell asleep? I really think it’s a defense mechanism. It’s not that I don’t like flying; it’s that I don’t understand why planes stay up in the air, and I have a tendency to avoid things I don’t understand. It seems like I fall asleep a lot on planes.

  When I woke up, Alice and A.J. were sitting on the other side of the plane, both leaning across a table, chatting and pointing at a paper. What they were so enthralled with was a mystery, unless of course I wanted to jump up and inspect the paper. I thought about it but couldn’t muster the energy.

  A.J. noticed I was awake and immediately came to talk to me.

  “What’s up?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What were you guys talking about?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “All of this is a surprise. What were you guys talking about?”

  He smiled at me, kissed my forehead, and said, “You aren’t gonna win this one. We’re almost there. You’ll see.”

  Alice brought me a Pepsi and some Doritos. My favorite travel food. Adeline pays more attention than I thought.

  About ten minutes later, Alice returned and suggested we look out the window. I raised the little screen and saw about a gazillion lights. There were mountains as far as I could see. It looked like a reasonably sized city in a valley somewhere. Could be anywhere in the world. A minute later, I saw enough neon to understand where we were. Las Vegas. Nobody does neon like Vegas.

  The airport is right in the middle of the city. You can see the strip from the plane all the way to landing. When we were coming in for our landing, we looked up at some of the casinos. It was very disorienting.

  We got out of the plane and into a waiting car, this one supplied by the hotel. The WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS sign was right across the sidewalk from where we landed. There was a long line of people waiting to have their pictures taken. They even had a guy dressed as Elvis with his pink Cadillac parked there for pictures. It was so hot outside, even at this point in the evening, and there were several wedding parties standing in line to have their pictures taken with the sign. I saw girls in full-on wedding dresses with their veils blowing around, standing in line in the heat. I wondered how many of them pass out. There’s a helicopter business right there, too.

  A huge gray plane with no markings was taking off. I wondered if that plane had anything to do with Area 51. I’ve heard of the other planes: white with a red stripe. Everybody says they no longer run employees from Vegas to Area 51, but Anna told me when she and the girls were in Vegas, they saw the planes taking off every day and then coming back every evening. I’m not a conspiracy person, but come on now, that’s gotta mean something, right?

  The driver drove around a bit and got us onto Las Vegas Boulevard. A.J. noticed a golf course that had lights for golfing at night. I guess that makes sense. It gets so hot in Vegas in the summer, it would make sense to play at night.

  There were all kinds of hotels on either side of the road. They seemed so huge. There was one on the left that must be a time-share deal. I’ve looked into booking the girls in them before, and that one looked just like the one I almost booked them into in Hawaii. Anna ended up making all those arrangements.

  It was becoming obvious you could find anything you wanted in the town. There was a big cowboy store right there on Las Vegas Boulevard. Billboards for every kind of restaurant you could imagine.

  My nose was stuck to the glass, and A.J. wasn’t saying much. It dawned on me that this might not be what he had in mind, and he might not be having any fun at all. I whipped around to apologize, and he had a big smile on his face. That’s a good sign.

  “What?”

  “It’s just been a little while since you looked happy.”

  “It’s been a little while since I’ve been happy.”

  “Are you happy now?”

  “I’m with you. Of course I’m happy.” I scooched over next to him. He put his arm around me. “Are you okay with this?”

  “I’m with you. Of course this is okay.”

  We spent the next few minutes looking at giant Hershey Kisses and two-story tall M&Ms. There were casinos and roller coasters and blinking lights in every direction. There were huge television screens and pirate ships and water foun
tains dancing in the evening light.

  The driver made a left and pulled into the hotel. Even out front, it was ornate and over the top, and I loved it.

  There was a woman standing at the door of the limo when we got out. She addressed us by name. “I trust your flight was a good one.”

  “It was great.”

  “Will you please follow me?” I hesitated for just a second. My instinct was to grab my bag, but even I could figure out that I wouldn’t be carrying my own bags this trip.

  We walked past the lobby, where people were waiting in lines so long it would take hours and hours for them to check in. I didn’t feel so bad about my luggage when I saw how many people were checking in with ice chests and garbage bags. Literally. What has happened to Americans? We have gotten a little too comfortable.

  We bypassed the first set of elevators and went to a smaller elevator at the end of the row. The woman, Cynthia, put a card in the slot, and the door opened almost immediately. To say we got a couple of looks from all the people lined up waiting for the other elevator would be a bit of an understatement. I’m sure everyone is used to people getting special treatment in Vegas, but you would expect those people to be dripping in diamonds, with thousand-dollar chips falling out of their pockets. A.J. and I don’t fit that pattern at all.

  I was relieved to see the button she pushed was not at the top of the group. At least we wouldn’t be in a penthouse or anything.

  The room where she took us was just ridiculous.

  In a good way.

  The room was huge. Actually, the room was bigger than my apartment. There was a big sitting area. There was a dining area. We had our own fridge and microwave, but not the kind you see in any mom-and-pop motel in the country. The kind you would see in a really nice house. Cynthia explained that we have 24/7 services. Basically anything we could think of that we wanted or needed, push a button and it’s ours. Any tickets to any shows. Any food we can think of. We can either have it delivered as room service, or they will make arrangements for our reservations.

  The reality is, I don’t have the clothes with me to go to a restaurant like that, so if A.J. wants a dinner like that, we’re pretty much going to have to order in.

  Anna once told me a casino down the street — off the strip — has a Steak ’n Shake. I could do a four-dollar dinner there and be perfectly happy.

  Cynthia checked to see if there was anything we required, handed A.J. our room keys and her business card, and walked to the door where the bellman was standing with our bags, which he brought into the room. When asked if we would like assistance unpacking, it was all I could do not to laugh. “We’re good, thank you.”

  Cynthia smiled and left.

  She was able to welcome us into this other world without seeming the least bit under-impressed with us. That’s a professional.

  A.J. took me into his arms. “Wow.”

  “I know, huh?”

  “When Adeline does something, she does it right. I’m not going to think about how much all this costs. I’m just going to enjoy it.”

  “Me, too. Did you bring anything dressy?”

  “Kind of. I brought my good jeans and my black jacket.”

  “I’m trying to think of what I can stick together. Black pants, heels. I brought that black sheer blouse, the one with the polka dots on the top part. Maybe that’ll work.” I wandered toward the bedroom while I talked.

  “You always look beautiful.”

  I stopped at the table in the living room to look at a huge basket. I assumed it would be a fruit basket. I have nothing against fruit, but a whole basket is just weird.

  The basket was customized. It was Cara-fied. It was full of Hershey’s chocolate, which reminded me I wanted to go to the Hershey’s store I’d seen on the drive to the hotel. All the junk that Teagan and I eat while sitting around the table in my apartment, trying to soothe our souls — it was all in the basket. Adeline outdid herself. If I weren’t trying so hard to stay positive, I would have let myself cry. Adeline did a lot more than spend her money and send A.J. and me on a trip; she personalized it, just for me to feel better.

  A.J. came up behind me. “You have to send Teagan a picture of all this, you know.” When I turned around, he had such an evil grin on his face, it made me laugh out loud. It felt so good to laugh like that.

  I continued into the bedroom.

  “Holy crap!” That got A.J.’s attention, and he came in right behind me.

  It was a beautiful room. Huge. Everything in the room was done in a beautiful light cream color, which has got to be totally impractical for a hotel room. It was done in a modern fifties feel. Old Hollywood glam meets modern European or something. Whatever they want to call it, it was beautiful.

  The curtains were open, and the view of the strip was outrageous.

  But it was the closet that got my attention.

  It had clothes in it.

  Beautiful clothes.

  A.J. just shook his head. “I’m assuming that this isn’t left over from the previous guest.”

  “What did Adeline do?”

  A.J. handed me a note. “This was on the bed.”

  Dearest Cara and A.J.,

  We hope that we have not overstepped. Please accept this gift and enjoy it. We had a great time planning and hope to hear all the details when you return.

  You will find appropriate clothing in your room. The concierge has a list of different activities we thought you might enjoy.

  Please go answer the door. Your dinner awaits.

  Much love,

  Gran, Adeline, and Anna

  I all but ran for the door. “How did they know we would find the note at just the right time?”

  A.J. smiled. “They know you, Cara.”

  “I’m that predictable?”

  “Dependable.” His smile reassured me that was a good thing.

  The guy at the door was dressed better than most of the people at my brother’s wedding. His tux was obviously not rented. When room service has custom-made tuxes, I’m out of my comfort zone.

  He pushed the cart into the room and said he would just be a moment. He invited us to continue with our activities, as he didn’t want to disturb us.

  Tuxedoman was followed in by a guy who looked like he might be the butler.

  Please, God, I don’t want anything that fancy.

  They set everything up on the table and asked if we required anything else. I said we wanted for nothing.

  Butlerguy said, “We are informed you prefer to dine without assistance.”

  I’m pretty sure I blushed. “Yes.”

  “Very well. All courses are presented.” And they left before we could even give them a tip.

  The food smelled good. I had no idea I was so hungry. “I hope there’s something I can eat.”

  A.J. and I headed to the table.

  I almost cried. Sitting at my place was a small(ish) steak, French fries, and a Pepsi. Sitting at A.J.’s place was food I couldn’t identify, but since he was smiling and rubbing his hands together, I assumed he knew what it was.

  It wasn’t the food that got to me, although it was perfect; it was the fact that the girls knew me so well and had gone to so much trouble.

  “What are you eating?”

  “This is a crab claw with sauce. Tastes like honey, mustard, and maybe some orange in there. This is scallops. This is salmon roe.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s all raw.”

  “Oh, yuck.”

  A.J. laughed. He pointed to the next plate. “This is Kobe steak. Let’s see…potatoes with cheese and beets.”

  “You like beets?”

  “I love beets.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “It also looks like I’ve got some blood sausage.”

  I spent the next several minutes trying to enjoy my steak while it was still hot as A.J. went into some detail about his food — even the raw stuff. I tried not to think about it so I could enjoy my food.
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br />   I tried not to sound judgmental. “I have a stupid question.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Two questions really. How do you know exactly what all that is? And how come you are willing to eat what I cook when obviously you like foods I have never even heard of?”

  “First question, there is a paper right here on the table that lists what everything is. Second question, I think it was the very first time we went out, when you were still trying to set me up with Teagan, that you said you save your adventurous side for something other than food. A man would have to be absolutely stupid to argue with that.” He let his eyebrows dance around on his forehead.

  Just like old times.

  I love having a shared history.

  “So you don’t mind that my palate is rather unsophisticated?”

  “Cara, I love everything about you.”

  “Nobody can love everything about another person. If there was one thing you could change about me, what would it be?”

  “Nothing.”

  “A.J., I’m serious.”

  “I’d have to think about it.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “You already know what you would change about me?”

  “Of course.”

  “What?”

  “I asked you first.” I liked that we could talk about a serious subject in a playful way. It’s one thing I wouldn’t change, that’s for sure.

  “Let’s see. If I had to pick one thing to change about you, I think I would change how you are too hard on yourself.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Sometimes the things you say about yourself or to yourself are not very kind. If you could see yourself the way everybody else sees you, you would know how special you are.”

  “That sounded like my mom. Just before she died, she told Teagan and me that we needed to be more positive. That she had raised us better than all the negativity we were projecting. I’ve been trying. Really.”

  “Cara, it isn’t a criticism — from me or your mom. It is a compliment.”

  “So the worst thing you have to say about me is a compliment?” I laughed.